Arizona's 2022 Senate race slipped away from Republicans with a poorly funded rookie candidate who made crucial mistakes.
Blake Masters began August with high hopes after clinching the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate race in Arizona and ended it with ominous signs of a problem that plagued him throughout his ill-fated campaign.
“The culmination for us was understanding that we were in an unpredictable political environment and in a close race,” Brown said. “I don’t think we were ever in a position where we thought to ourselves that we’ve got this locked down and that we’re going to win.”The GOP’s choice ensured Democrats faced the candidate they viewed as easiest to paint as an extremist and who had made numerous controversial remarks they could roll out against him.
Through mid-July, Masters had only pulled in $4.3 million from donors. He loaned his campaign $448,000 to that point and had just $1.6 million in cash. In the final days heading into the primary, Masters loaned his campaign another $580,000. They began in 2019 when Kelly began running in the special election to fill the final two years of the late Sen. John McCain’s last term. When Kelly won in 2020, it meant the campaign never really ended for some.
Masters didn't have much name recognition and his campaign staying dark in the crucial first few weeks allowed Democrats to define his image in the public eye. The Supreme Court’s June ruling that erased federal abortion rights pressed that issue to the public fore. Masters had described supporters of abortion rights as “demonic” and said that for them it was akin to a “religious sacrifice.” He did not describe the procedure itself in those terms, but that detail mattered little on a charged issue.
Masters could not afford a sustained response. What they could do is soften his rhetoric in interviews and on his campaign website. Kelly knew inflation was a sore subject with voters. He didn’t reject it as an issue, and didn’t try to claim that it had been solved by legislative action. Instead, he said he took steps to address it and empathized with voters feeling the pinch.Facing other tight races, McConnell moves on
In Georgia, Republican Herschel Walker was in a dead heat with Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga. The Senate race in Pennsylvania seesawed between Democrat John Fetterman and Republican Mehmet Oz. As the calendar turned to September, Kelly was in Washington as the Senate tended to unfinished legislative business. Meanwhile, Masters remained consistently behind in public polling.
In October, Masters made a strong showing during the only candidate debate in the general election. It was one area where his primary experience gave him an advantage over Kelly. Not long after, Masters traveled with Lake as part of a “Lake and Blake” ticket intended to transfuse the enthusiasm in conservative quarters for her to him.By then, Masters was pushing out his campaign messages to counter Kelly’s. Democrats said Masters’ ads were effective, but came too late, rarely made it to TV and didn’t get enough play to truly damage Kelly.
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